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Freeway vs Thoroughfare - What's the difference?

freeway | thoroughfare |

As nouns the difference between freeway and thoroughfare

is that freeway is (australia|canada|us) a road designed for safe, high-speed operation of motor vehicles through the elimination of at-grade intersections, usually divided and having at least two lanes in each direction; a dual carriageway with no at-grade crossings, a motorway while thoroughfare is a passage; a way through.

freeway

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (Australia, Canada, US) A road designed for safe, high-speed operation of motor vehicles through the elimination of at-grade intersections, usually divided and having at least two lanes in each direction; a dual carriageway with no at-grade crossings, a motorway.
  • * 1983 , David Brodsly, L. A. Freeway: An Appreciative Essay , page 1,
  • Contrary to what one might expect of an essay on freeways , this one is neither a diatribe nor a paean.
  • * 2008 , Derek Hayes, Canada: An Illustrated History , page 257,
  • In the late 1950s and 1960s most large cities started planning freeway systems, acknowledging the incredible growth in car ownership.
  • * 2010 , Robert Freestone, Urban Nation: Australia?s Planning Heritage , page 161,
  • The Australian freeway story of the late twentieth century, like many planning stories, can be told as one of high technical expectations dashed by political controversy.
  • A toll-free highway.
  • Usage notes

    In Australian usage, the term freeway is sometimes avoided for toll roads. For high-speed roads where tolls apply, terms such as tollway and motorway may be used.

    thoroughfare

    English

    Alternative forms

    * thorofare * (l) (obsolete) * (l) (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A passage; a way through.
  • * 1961 , (Frederic Morton), The Rothschilds , p. 173:
  • “I ask you,” cried Lloyd George in 1909. “Are we to have all the ways of reform, financial and social, blocked simply by a notice board: ‘No thoroughfare . By order of Nathanial Rothschild’?”
  • * 1974 , , Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy :
  • In the scullery Smiley had once more checked his thoroughfare , shoved some deck-chairs aside, and pinned a string to the mangle to guide him because he saw badly in the dark.
  • A road open at both ends or connecting one area with another; a highway or main street.
  • * 1841 , (Charles Dickens), Barnaby Rudge :
  • a dozen houses were quickly blazing, including those of Sir John Fielding and two other justices, and four in Holborn – one of the greatest thoroughfares in London – which were all burning at the same time, and burned until they went out of themselves, for the people cut the engine hose, and would not suffer the firemen to play upon the flames.
  • *, chapter=7
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=With some of it on the south and more of it on the north of the great main thoroughfare that connects Aldgate and the East India Docks, St.?Bede's at this period of its history was perhaps the poorest and most miserable parish in the East End of London.}}
  • * 2011 , Stephen Phelan, The Guardian , 1 Jul 2011:
  • Local art is now a viable industry, and hundreds of islanders make a living in it. The thoroughfare of Oneroa village is lined with shops and galleries full of their work.
  • (obsolete) The act of going through; passage; travel, transit.
  • * 1667 , (John Milton), Paradise Lost , Book X:
  • and made one realm, / Hell and this world, one realm, one continent / Of easy thorough-fare .
  • *
  • An unobstructed waterway allowing passage for ships.